HOW TO KEEP THE FAITH
1 Pet 1:3-9
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith-- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Over the course of years I have witnessed many people coming to the Lord for the very first time. Some went to the altar, some stood or sat where they were, in a living room setting, in my office, alone with me in the sanctuary. Some cried, some showed no emotion at all. But regardless, hearts were touched, wills were broken, and Jesus Christ was glorified as folks yielded their lives to Him.
But we know from the teaching of scripture and from personal experience that our faith will be challenged. Satan will come against us in an effort to destroy it. And God will test our faith as well, in an effort to enlarge it.
The question is, HOW CAN I KEEP THE FAITH? How can I remain true to my commitment to God? How can I keep from falling away from God like so many others do?
Illus.: Ted Turner’s Testimony
Turned his back on Christianity because of his sister’s untimely death.
Parable of the sower and the four soils:
Path
Rocky places
Throns
Good soil
Mark 4:16-17
16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
We often begin well but fade fast—like spiritual sprinters—off the mark quickly, full of excitement and energy, but soon out of breath and strength. God is looking for long distance runners!
Look at our culture. We’re a bunch of quitters! Dieting is a discipline, so we quit and stay fat. School is a hassle, so we bail out. Sticking with an occupation is tough, so we start looking elsewhere. Working through conflict in a marriage is tiring, so we walk away. Ours is a culture of quitters!
The same is often true in the spiritual realm. How can I keep
the faith? Well, I don’t have all the answers, but I can tell you one thing for sure: OUR FAITH IS WORTH KEEPING! Look at verse 7 of our scripture. Peter says that our faith is of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though it is refined by fire.
Further, this faith resulted in the new birth and a living hope (vs.3) And in verse 4 it means that we have a spiritual inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade because it is kept in heaven for us.
And that’s not all. Verse 5 tells us that because of this faith we are shielded by God’s power and verse 6 says that it produces joy in us, even in the midst of severe trials! PTL! Now that’s a faith worth having and keeping!
Let me share 4 ways we can keep the faith.
1. KNOW Your Faith
Well-defined, not fuzzy in your thinking
We must clearly understand what it means to be a Christian
We must know how the Bible defines Christianity, not what the culture says
The Great Evangelist George Whitefield once asked a coal miner what he believed. “Oh,” the miner answered, “That’s easy. I believe what my church believes.” “And what does your church believe?” asked the evangelist. “Well, the church believes what I believe.” “But what do you believe?” persisted Whitefield. The miner thought for a moment and said, “The church and me, we both believe the same thing.”
An elusive, cloudy faith can never be safe-guarded. The Bible tells us that we are to be ready to give an answer to every man that asks us a reason of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear” (I Peter 3:15).
A traveler was preparing for a long trip. A friend asked if he was all packed and he said, “Yup, just about. I’ve got my guidebook, a lamp, a mirror, a microscope, a volume of fine poetry, a package of old letters, a song book, a sword, a hammer and a set of books.” “But,” the friend said, “you can’t get all of that in one suitcase.” “Sure I can,” replied the traveler. It doesn’t take much room.” Then he placed his Bible in the suitcase and closed the lid.
Romans 10:17 says it best: “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” If you want to secure your faith, you must know what it is that you believe. Develop an attitude of total trust in the bible. Its God’s love-letter to you. Did you ever get a love letter? I did Here’s what I remember doing with it.
Read it carefully
Read it several times
Memorized parts of it
Underlined some of it
Cherished it
You’ll never get a “Dear John” letter from God!
So, the first guideline to keeping the faith is to KNOW the faith—know what you believe, based on the Word of God.
Illus.: Geneva’s comment: “O, how the Navigator’s class has helped me.” Three cheers for the Sunday school!
2. FEED Your Faith
Faith, like life itself, will eventually die if it doesn’t receive nourishment. We need some good, old-fashioned “soul food.” Here’s the menu:
(1) God’s Word. Matt. 4:4 Jesus said, “It is written, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God. You can’t nibble, or in any way be finicky.
Bible Knowledge Quiz: These are actual answers given by elementary students on a Bible knowledge test.
Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark
Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night
Moses went to the top of Mt, Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.
The 7th Commandments is, “Thou shalt not admit adultery.
Joshua led the Hebrews in the Battle of Geritol
Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption
The people who followed Jesus were called the 12 decibels
The Epistles were the wives of the Apostles
A man should have only one wife, This is called monotomy
(2) Christian Fellowship—drawing from the testimonies and lives of other, more mature Christians
(3) Prayer
(4) Worship: “A little faith will get you to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”
To feed your faith means that you have to have the DESIRE to mature spiritually—to grow and expand. Everything begins with desire, with aim. Be single-minded. With Paul, say, “This one thing I do…” Make it your aim to grow and you will!
3. SHARE Your Faith
Anyone who doesn’t give their faith away will ultimately LOSE it. We have the truth that can set men free—free from Satan and the power of sin. Can we sit idly by and watch people die in their sin without hope beyond the grave and not give them the Good News? Of course we can’t. That doesn’t mean that everyone is going to be saved. But at least we will have done our part—sowing the seed.
Illus.: “I’ll Wait for the Big Gun”
The evangelist, Lieghton Ford was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat on the grass at the rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses, no one recognized him. Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to the preacher. When he invited people to come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder and asked, “Would you like to receive Christ? I’ll be glad to walk down with you if you want me to.” The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, “Naw, I think I’ll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night.”
This man represents the many who have the idea that evangelism is the role of the “big guns” and not the “little shots.”
Just how does sharing our faith help us to keep the faith?
Fear of man makes us more dependent on God
Lack of confidence will drive us to our knees
Problems and questions will cause us to seek more truth from the Word.
The experience of wining one person will serve as an impetus to share our faith more often.
4. GUARD Your Faith
I Tim. 6:20: “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge.”
What exactly should we guard against?
(1) Laziness
(2) Too much emphasis on “feelings”
(3) Too much emphasis on “logic”
(4) Developing a bitter or negative attitude. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He’s the One we look to as our example. He will never let us down.
(5) Despair. If we fail God, the best thing to do is admit it, ask for forgiveness and then get up and get going.
(6) The attack of the devil. Submit your self to God, get as close to Him as you can, resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7,8).
Conclusion
God wants us to succeed! He’s on our side. So, if you truly want to keep the faith, remember,
KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE
FEED YOUR FAITH
SHARE IT AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN
GUARD AGAINST LOSING IT
